


Shop Talk

by sunkelles



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Adopted Children, Batfamily Feels, Batgirl Artemis, Families of Choice, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-19 06:09:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: In an au where Paula dies and Bruce Wayne adopts Artemis, she wants to be a superhero. Bruce isn't totally sold on the idea.





	Shop Talk

**Author's Note:**

  * For [titaniumsansa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/titaniumsansa/gifts).



> merry christmas!!!! so this one shot is really short, but i've been thinking about this au for a long time and i'm planning on trying to write a few more in this verse
> 
> actually, i'm planning another in this verse that i'll hopefully have posted for you soon :)

Bruce knows that he should have expected this. He had a feeling about what kind of a kid Artemis was when he took her in, and he knew for a fact what kind of “training” that her dad put her through. He should have known she’d want to become a hero.

“I want to go out patrolling with you and Dick,” Artemis says firmly.

“No talking shop outside the shop,” Bruce says. That’s one of his firmest house rules. Bat talk stays in the bat cave.

“I haven’t been to the _shop_ since the day I got here,” Artemis grumbles.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Bruce asks gently.

“Would I ask if I weren’t?” Artemis says, crossing her hands over her chest. Artemis is just eleven years old, but she’s already perfected the unimpressed look and the withering glare. She had perfected those looks before Bruce even met her, though. Being raised by Sportsmaster does things to a person, things Bruce isn’t sure will ever heal.

Bruce still remembers Artemis looking up at him with wide eyes, asking him to please kick her father’s ass. There were bruises all over her body, bruises she still hasn’t explained where she got.

“I think that you need more time to get settled,” Bruce says. Artemis has only lived with them for a month. She’s barely even adjusted to her new prep school.

“Dick didn’t need time to get settled,” Artemis says, rolling her eyes, “you let _him_ patrol-” Bruce glares.

“ _Work in the shop_ ,” Artemis says, rolling her eyes, “as soon as he moved in with you. He was eight. I’m _eleven_.” Artemis says this like being eleven makes her an adult or something.

“I just don’t know if you’re settled yet,” Bruce says, “it’s only been a few months.” Artemis glares.

“You’re just making excuses,” Artemis says.

“I am not,” Bruce says. Not wanting to send the eleven year old you just adopted directly into Gotham’s criminal underbelly isn’t a crime, especially when you just adopted her out of it. 

“I want to help,” Artemis says, getting up off the couch, “And if you don’t let me, then I’ll do it myself.” Then she walks upstairs, and makes sure to slam the door to her room for good measure. Alfred looks over to him from the table he was pretending to dust.

“I believe you have just “screwed up” as young Master Dick loves to say,” Alfred says. This, like so many of his one-liners, he somehow manages to deliver with a straight face.

“I didn’t screw up,” Bruce says.

“No, I believe that you have,” Alfred says. Dick is peering down at them over the bannister, Bruce turns to him.

“I bet you have an opinion on this too,” Bruce says.

“I think if you don’t take her out patrolling she’ll go on her own,” Dick says, leaning over the bannister.

“Thanks for the support,” Bruce says.

“Hey,” Dick says, “I tell it like it is.” The he holds up his hands and goes back to his room. Dick, thankfully, does not slam his door.

“You don’t think she’ll stop, do you?” Bruce asks.

“Did you stop, or do we have a cave full of weapons and bat paraphernalia under the mansion?”

“Touche,” Bruce says, sighing. Then, Bruce Wayne decides to prepare for the inevitable.

 

Three days later, he’s taken care of everything. Luckily, Artemis hasn’t already run off to fight criminals (at least as far as he knows). She’s lying on the couch, flipping through one of Dick’s older Iron Man comics.

“Artemis,” he asks, “would you like to go down to the shop with me?” Artemis drops the comic immediately.

“We’re going back to the shop? For real?” Artemis asks. She doesn’t look convinced.

“For real,” Bruce says, “I promise.” Artemis makes a hmp noise. She’s a girl that’s used to having her promises broken, and she expects nothing less from him. Bruce will have to prove that assumption wrong. He leads her back down to the Bat Cave for the second time. Then, he stops about halfway through.

“So,” Artemis says, “what is this about?” She crosses her arms in front of her chest.

“I thought that you could come on my next patrol,” he says.

“Wait, really?” Artemis asks.

“Yes, really,” Bruce says. Then, he takes the black sheet off of the costume that he’s made her.

“So,” Bruce says, revealing the costume, “how do you feel about Batgirl?” Artemis looks at it with wide eyes. He can’t tell if that’s a good sign or not.

“If you have another idea for a name and costume, I’m sure we can work with it,” he adds awkwardly. He doesn’t want to force this down her throat if she doesn’t want it. When he had offered her his name, she had politely declined and went with her late mother’s maiden name instead. Artemis Nguyen has a nice ring to it. He’s sure that if she has another idea, it will suit her better than his did.

“No,” Artemis says, “Batgirl sounds perfect.” She gently touches the costume.

“It feels sturdy,” she says.

“Yeah, of course,” Bruce says, “I wasn’t letting you leave this house if you weren’t well armored.” Artemis cracks a smile.

“Thank you, B.”

**Author's Note:**

> please imagine artemis in this costume 
> 
> http://www.writeups.org/wp-content/uploads/Batgirl-Stephanie-Brown-h9.jpg


End file.
